The North American Third-party Logistics Industry in 2007: The Provider CEO Perspective

• Published in: Transportation journal Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 39 - 53
• Main Author: LIEB, ROBERT
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lock Haven, PA The American Society of Traffic and Logistics 01.04.2008; American Society of Transportation and Logistics; Pennsylvania State University Press
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Business; Business conditions; Business structures; Chief executive officers; Exact sciences and technology; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Industrial growth; Industrial market; Industry; Logistics; Notes and Comments; Polls & surveys; Procurement; Public Policy; Revenue; Service industries; Subsidiary companies; Technology; Third party; Transportation industry; North America; America; United States > US; Mexico; Prospective; Survey; Perspective; Trend analysis; Transport firm; Economic aspect; Comparative study; Freight transportation; Logistics
• ISSN: 0041-1612; 2157-328X
• DOI: 10.2307/20713705

The third-party logistics (3PL) industry continues to change as a result of large-scale consolidations, the pressures to globalize service offerings, and market pressures on prices and margins. Management is challenged on a regular basis to develop global positioning strategies, restructure their organizations, and deliver solid value propositions to increasingly demanding customers. While the prospects for the North American 3PL industry appear quite good for the next several years, those prospects would clearly be affected by any significant economic slowdown. A high priority for these companies should be development of contingency strategies for a possible slow-growth mode of operations. In response to a wide variety of market opportunities that exist in the North American 3PL marketplace, these companies will have to decide how to allocate limited sales/marketing resources among such approaches as selling more deeply into the existing client base, broadening the number of industry verticals served by the company, expanding the breadth of company service offerings, and creating clear market differentiation from their competitors.